1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of connecting respective end portions of two component carrier tapes to each other and to a connecting member and a connecting tool which are used in carrying out the connecting method.
2. Related Art Statement
There is known a component carrier tape which has a plurality of component accommodating pockets at a first pitch along a first straight line, and has a plurality of tape-feed holes at a second pitch along a second straight line parallel to the first straight line. Each of the component accommodating pockets accommodates an electric component ("EC") therein. This carrier tape is fed at a feeding pitch equal to the first pitch, so that the ECs are supplied one by one from the accommodating pockets. The carrier tape which is wound around a tape reel or is stored in a tape storing member is drawn, starting with its initial portion, and is fed forward by a tape feeding device. When the carrier tape is consumed to its terminal end portion, an operator connects the terminal end portion of the consumed carrier tape to an initial end portion of a new carrier tape, so that the ECs are successively supplied from the new tape following the prior tape.
Conventionally, one or more adhesive tapes and/or a tape connecting chip have or has been used to connect two carrier tapes. In a first case where each of two carrier tapes is a paper-based tape which includes (A) a component accommodating tape consisting of (a1) a card-based main tape having a number of through-holes formed through the thickness thereof, and (a2) a bottom tape adhered to a back surface of the main tape, and (B) a top tape which is adhered to a top surface of the main tape to close respective upper openings of the through-holes, usually, the respective component accommodating tapes of the two carrier tapes are connected to each other with an adhesive tape, and respective top tapes of the two carrier tapes are connected to each other with another adhesive tape. Meanwhile, in a second case where each of two carrier tapes is an embossed-type tape which includes (A) a component accommodating tape which is provided by a synthetic-resin-based tape having a number of embossed portions in a lengthwise direction thereof, and (B) a top tape which is adhered to a top surface of the component accommodating tape to close respective upper openings of the embossed portions, usually, the respective accommodating tapes of the two carrier tapes are connected to each other with a metal chip as a tape connecting chip, and respective top tapes of the two carrier tapes are connected to each other with an adhesive tape. The metal chip is provided by an elongate metal plate having a plurality of tape-feed holes at a pitch equal to the pitch of the tape-feed holes of each carrier tape. The metal chip has a plurality of connecting holes each of which is formed by burring at a location between a corresponding pair of adjacent tape-feed holes and has a burr resulting from the burring. The operator connects the two accommodating tapes by pressing the chip against those tapes and thereby causing the burrs of the chip to bite into the tapes.
In the above-described first case, however, the two paper-based tapes may not be connected to each other with a sufficiently great connecting strength, or the respective end portions of the two tapes may be connected to each other such that one of the tape-feed holes of the connected end portions has an irregular pitch different from the regular pitch of each tape. That is, the two tapes cannot be connected to each other with a sufficiently high reliability. Meanwhile, in the above-described second case, the two embossed-type tapes can be connected to each other with a somewhat higher reliability. However, in a third case where two paper-based tapes are connected to each other using a metal chip, those two tapes cannot be connected to each other with a satisfactory reliability. Thus, the third case is not practical. The metal chip is needed to include a thin main portion which is elastically deformable with a carrier tape. Accordingly, it is difficult to form burrs each of which projects from the thin main portion so as to have a sufficient length or height. On the other hand, in the case where a metal chip having short burrs is caused to bite into the two paper-based tapes, the two tapes cannot be connected to each other with a sufficiently great strength.